When I was asked to write a blog post for CASUA, I pondered over what exactly I should write about.
I could talk about the shocking statistics regarding child abuse or simply feed you facts. You would hear my words but you might not listen. Instead, I will tell you some of the mistakes I’ve regretted most. Before we talk about my mistakes, however, let’s first consider global warming as a concept talked about starting from elementary. After learning about global warming, we go home energized to make our parents start recycling. We run to bottle depots and feel accomplished thinking that our efforts helped the environment become greener. We grow up filled with the determination to race to protests against government policies that do not take environmental preservation into consideration. All our lives, we run towards fighting against global problems like global warming because that is what we have been taught. For most, however, our circumstances prevent us from focusing on anything else aside from running away from what we fear. I was volunteering for a summer camp. There was a young boy who no one could figure out. He always seemed to be running away whenever we asked him to follow us. For some reason, he wore long sleeves even when it was scorching hot outside. One day, I grabbed his arm to get his attention and noticed his wince. I pulled his sleeve back much to his reluctance and saw the scattered bruises colouring his arm. Perhaps it was due to him being a kid and getting bruised easily just like we all did in childhood, but everything about his bruises just looked wrong. I went home that night and cried myself to sleep. I did not know what to do. As a 13-year-old, I was a coward. I was terrified of what I saw and helpless as to what I could do. I ran away from my fear just like he ran away from us. To him, we were authority figures--people that he had learned to fear. To this day, I look back and still regret my lack of action. Several days into high school, I made some new friends. While having a deep conversation with one of them, they suddenly tell me that their personality is distorted as they have been sexually and physically abused by their own family members. I tell them that I'm sorry to hear what they go through. After that conversation, we end up never speaking again. Again, I ran away. I was scared of the truth presented to me. When someone tells you that, what could you even say? In the middle of grade 12, I sit in a car with a close friend while they tell me that their father assaults their mother in front of them to the point where emergency assistance is required. I can only sit there numbly and nod. As I leave the car, the door slamming shut is the echo I find myself falling asleep to long after. These moments in my life where someone subconsciously needed help or directly asked for support and I did not provide either will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life. As humans, we seek happiness. We crave light and avoid moments where we face the darkness. In fact, the theme for this pandemic appears to be society’s efforts in revealing the shadows of humanity into the face of light. At the crux of the dark and finally uncovered truth, we learn that humans have compassion and kindness in their souls and want change for the better. When I wrote this blog, I figured it's time I brought my own regrets to light, so that my efforts to be better and do more will hopefully invoke others to face their own dark truths and seek transformation. I am now sprinting with my efforts to fight for the children who live in fear and those who were children and had to live in fear. I owe it to the friends I left and I owe it to the little boy whom I could not save.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
September 2020
Categories |